All Politics is now Global

‘New Cold War’ Developing Between U.S., China

Beijing is digging in for a ‘war of attrition’ that won’t end anytime soon.

With trade tensions growing between Washington and Beijing, and the military tensions building in the South China Sea, observers are noting that a “new Cold War” is brewing between the U.S. and China.

…

The U.S. average tariff rate for trading partners with “most favored nation” status is 3.4 percent, but China’s is 9.8 percent, making one of the highest among members of the World Trade Organization. This has been the primary motivation, along with intellectual property theft, for President Donald Trump’s bare-knuckles approach with tariffs against China.

Meanwhile, retiring Alibaba founder Jack Ma said he was withdrawing his promise to create 1 million new jobs in the U.S. following the latest round of U.S. sanctions announced Tuesday afternoon. He said:

“The promise was made on the premise of friendly U.S.-China partnership and rational trade relations. That premise no longer exists today, so our promise cannot be fulfilled.”

Experts had previously questioned whether or not Ma and Alibaba could follow through on the promise after it was made more than a year ago. They were further skeptical of his promise to allow 1 million farmers and small businesses to sell their goods through the Alibaba platform over the next five years.

…

The South China Morning Post, which is also owned by Ma, has reported that a government debate has begun to find “alternative ways to hurt America, ranging from specific imports with higher tariffs to making the exports to U.S. wants the most more expensive.” The report notes that Chinese officials are now realizing the trade war will not come to a swift end, saying it will be a “war of attrition.”

This afternoon, the State Department announced new sanctions were being imposed on a Chinese military unit over the purchase of Russian jets and vehicles. Those sanctions come into effect immediately.